New lighting technologies have bright future

Cheaper alternatives to xenon lights are entering the market

Bending headlights illuminate where the car is turning. Suppliers are looking to lower the cost of such systems.

How to tell the difference

There are three main types of automotive lighting.

1. Halogen lights are incandescent; electrical current flowing through a filament causes it to glow.

2. In xenon and other high-intensity discharge lights, electric current arcs across a gap in conductors, passing through gases that glow.

3. LEDs are light-emitting semiconductor devices. They pose thermal management challenges and are still considered too weak and too expensive for front lighting. But the technology is progressing rapidly. LEDs already are used for rear and auxiliary lighting.

Bending headlight systems are electronically linked to steering inputs and direct light in the direction that the vehicle is turning. Most systems mechanically move the light projector.

By contrast, static cornering lights use an added light source that switches on and off during low-speed turns. The extra light can be housed in the headlight unit, the fog light or a separate unit.

Halogen bending lights also open the way for suppliers to get some much-needed volume to recoup their heavy investment in developing bending light technology.

Suppliers had expected that the technology would expand to include the mass market and eventually generate economies of scale.

"We all had expected xenon technology to achieve higher take rates on the market," Rainer Neumann, head of Visteon Corp.'s European lighting development, told Automotive News Europe.

"But the end customer still pays about the same as 15 years ago. The market grew at a far slower pace than we expected."

So suppliers have created less costly ways to improve lighting for nonpremium cars: cheaper bending lights and cornering lights.

Benefits of halogen

The simplest way is to replace xenon with less expensive incandescent halogen bulbs in bending light systems.

The manufacturing cost of a bending halogen system is about 140 euros, or $177 at current exchange rates. That compares with 400 euros, or $508, for a bending xenon system.

The first car with halogen bending lights is the Ford Focus, which uses a system from Visteon.

"Bending halogen light is the only choice for anyone to offer a premium lighting option in the sub-Golf segment in Europe," said Michael Hamm, head of lighting development and innovation at Automotive Lighting in Reutlingen, Germany.

"There is high cost sensitivity here and, therefore, no territory to be gained with xenon technology."

Halogen bending lights will work well for small and minicar segments, said Arne Behlmer, senior automotive analyst at CSM Worldwide's office in Frankfurt.

"Its effect is clearly visible, and it is much less expensive than static xenon light," he said. "And you don't need washers and auto-leveling systems, which are mandated with xenon lights."

Slow speed ahead

French supplier Valeo SA is more cautious about halogen bending lights.

"It is technology that can be experienced during each and every night drive," said Konrad Weigl, director of marketing at Valeo's lighting division. "But there are definitely not enough carmakers on that track to really call it a trend."

Suppliers say drivers see the benefits of halogen bending lights more readily than those of xenon lights, but xenon lights are simply more powerful.

"Bending light brings halogen closer to xenon, but it is still regional league compared with the champions' league," Automotive Lighting's Hamm said.